Foods You Should Eat To Lose Weight

There are no secrets to weight loss and fad diets do not work

Almost all diet plans begin with a list of forbidden foods and some scientific reason why they should be avoided to lose weight. Some diet plans even ask you to stop eating otherwise healthy foods, or foods that are necessary for normal daily functioning just to lose short-term weight. This article is going to recommend foods that you should try to include with your meals that will help you lose weight.
In most cases, mainstream diet plans are a scientific experiment in a vacuum without factoring in that you are a human being who must wake up and go to work every day, fight off illness, and hopefully have the energy to exercise. These diets don´t care if you are happy, irritated, tired or sick. They assume you don´t care about your social life, your work habits or your relationships. But here is the really depressing news, there is no end to it. Diets do not work unless they are sustainable for a long time. There is no magic when it comes to weight loss, the math is easy, burn more calories than you consume and you will lose weight.

The importance of vitamins and water to any successful weightloss strategy

Let´s start with the basics. You eat carbohydrates, protein and fat, all of which your body converts to energy. Most of us know this, but what many don´t realize is how important vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins are to this process. Not having enough B-complex vitamins available means your body will not be as efficient at turning carbohydrates and fat into energy. This results in the body having to store these materials. Make sure you are getting your recommended daily amount of vitamins. The easiest way is to simply take a multivitamin in the morning.
While talking about converting food into energy, there is another important piece to that process, water. Water is a vital part of any good weight loss strategy. Not only is it vital in the conversion of carbohydrates and fat into energy, but it also is necessary in the intestines to insure proper nutrient absorption. Another main reason why water is so important for weightless has to do with the way the brain understands thirst and hunger. In the early stages of thirst, it actually triggers the same part of your brain used to tell you that you are hungry. This means that sometimes when you feel hungry, it is actually water that your body is craving. Finally, water is a great filler food. Drinking a glass of water at the beginning of a meal will fill you up sooner and maybe cut down on your desire to eat other foods later on in the meal.
Aside from multivitamins and water, there are many other real foods that have great weight loss properties. These end up in a few different categories. Some are filler foods and others are energy burners. Filler foods are just healthy foods that can be added to a meal (and eaten first) with the intent of filling you up and causing you to maybe not eating as much of that unhealthy food on the table. Energy burners are foods that burn more energy to digest than the amount of calories they contain.

Oatmeal is an important food to add to your breakfast, a filler food which traps sugar

One of the best foods you can add to your breakfasts is a small portion of oatmeal. One of the major benefits of oatmeal is that it is mostly soluble fiber. Soluble fiber passes through the digestive tract unabsorbed. The obvious benefit to this is that it is a filling food that will make you feel full sooner. But there is a hidden benefit to soluble fiber, it acts as a trap for sugar and other simple carbohydrates. What this means is that instead of all the sugar in your meal being absorbed rapidly in the intestines, the sugar absorption is spread over a few hours. This can help prevent cravings in the late morning. Finally, both soluble and insoluble fiber act as a ´cleaner´ of your intestines as it passes through.

Bananas, the anti-sodium food

Another great food to add to your breakfast is a banana. Bananas are full of vitamins as well as fiber, but they are high in another very important nutrient, potassium. Think of potassium as the anti-sodium. Sodium causes your body to hold excess water. This is very noticeable when you eat salty foods and immediately become thirsty. Potassium acts in the opposite direction and will allow you to get rid of some of that excess sodium-related water retention. Finally, don´t worry about warnings about bananas because they contain fat. Yes, bananas contain more fat than most fruits or vegetables, but it is a tiny amount compared to other foods and it is healthy fat that your body needs.

Fruits and Vegatables, low in calories, hard to digest

The next group are things all of us know we need to eat more of, fruits and vegetables. Apples with the skin, carrots, celery and any other raw fruit or vegetable can help you lose weight. In many cases, vegetables require nearly as much energy to digest as they actually contain. Raw fruits and vegetables all contain large amounts of insoluble fiber. This is material that will make you feel full, but won´t be absorbed as it passes through your digestive tract. Make your plate colorful. Get in the habit of throwing a few different types of vegetables on every plate you make. A single slice of tomato, a few carrot and celery sticks and a slice or two of apple will go a long way to filling you up before you even get to the main meal. In addition, many citrus fruits contain almost no calories, but your body burns calories absorbing the nutrients contained in them.
By adding a few of these things to your meals each day, you will not only add great, nutritional foods, but you will also not have the hunger that causes you to eat other, unhealthy foods. A multivitamin, along with a few glasses of water each day will also sure that you are getting the full amount of energy from the foods you are eating. Adding filling foods like oatmeal and fruits and vegetables will reduce your hunger, while foods high in potassium like bananas will allow you to shed some of that extra water weight. The most important thing is to add the foods you like the most, this will ensure that it becomes part of your normal lifestyle.